WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, is leading Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee in calling for a hearing into President Donald Trump's pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Calling Trump's pardon of Arpaio last Friday "an unequivocal signal that institutionalized racial profiling as practices by Sheriff Arpaio is acceptable," Conyers and the other Democrats asked Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., "to convene an oversight hearing on this controversial pardon and surrounding events as soon as possible."

The letter, dated today, was signed by all the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees legal matters and the U.S. Justice Department. Conyers is the committee's top-ranking Democrat and the longest-serving active member of Congress.

While the U.S. Constitution gives presidents broad pardon powers for charges and convictions brought by federal officials, Trump's pardon of Arpaio has been controversial because he is not only a supporter of Trump's but was convicted of contempt of court for failing to follow a judge's order.

Arpaio was convicted after a five-day trial this summer in which Justice Department prosecutors argued that Arpaio, 85, had intentionally ignored a 2011 order in a racial profiling case that he and his deputies stop detaining individuals solely on the belief that they might be in the country illegally.

Arpaio lost re-election as sheriff of the Arizona county last year. He had been in the position for 24 years.

In the letter to Goodlatte, Conyers and the other Democrats said the pardon "represents a gross injustice," saying Arpaio and his subordinates were found to be "intentionally violent and abusive" to people in their custody. They also said that while the president enjoys broad pardon power, "it is highly problematic for the president to simply dismiss a pending criminal matter that was referred to the Department of Justice by a federal court."

"The pardon not only disregards the rule of law," they said, "it directly flouts the courts themselves by signaling that it is acceptable for parties to ignore court orders."

The Democrats noted that Republicans on the committee have held hearings on presidential pardon powers before — in 2001, following President Bill Clinton's term in office. It should be noted that Democrats at that hearing, however, argued that "there is little disagreement among legal scholars that this (pardon) power is unrestricted as applied to offenses against the United States, excluding impeachment."

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.